


Found Family

by thegreatandpowerfultoaster



Series: Found Family [1]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Platonic or romantic if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 03:45:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16318514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatandpowerfultoaster/pseuds/thegreatandpowerfultoaster
Summary: The Beginnings of trust between Shepard and one Miranda Lawson.





	Found Family

They're all squished into Miranda's office for dinner, Cerberus having not thought ahead to the people they'd told her to recruit into her crew as far as Mess Hall accommodations went.

Shepard doesn't mind this, of course. It reminds her of what she'd might've referred to as 'the good old days', when all they had to worry about was stopping Saren, and how long until they got to watch as she hung up on the Council again.

This is good too, though. It's only been a couple weeks in the Normandy SR2, but it's starting to feel familiar, comfortable.

Jokers got his plate in his lap and his feet up on Miranda's desk, and even though she keeps shooting him annoyed looks from the other side of said desk, Shepard has to assume that she isn't really angry, since she hasn't said anything to him yet. She trusts joker, the way she always has, and even though he's been working for Cerberus every moment that she'd been dead, she still can't help it.

Miranda, in the other hand...well, Shepard has got plenty of things to say to Miranda Lawson. None of them good, come to think of it. The woman's knee deep in all of this, and Shepard doesn't like it.

On the far side of the small room, Jacob and Garrus sit against the wall, swapping stories, even though the latter is having a bit of trouble carrying on a conversation, the way his mandible is still wrapped up in medical tape, and hindering the translators ability to pick up exactly what he's saying. She trusts Garrus, too. And while she's got a healthy dose of suspicion where Jacob is concerned, he thinks he's doing what's right.

But she also knows exactly how little that means, sometimes.

Mordin has even joined them, along with Dr. Chakwas, even though both prefer to eat in their own spaces, usually they seem to like each other well enough. And Kelly Chambers sits next to her, even though she seems a little nervous about being present. Shepard understands the feeling.

Weirdly, it almost feels like being at the home she'd never had. The only thing that had ever come this close to a home, and to feeling like home was her crew, before...

She'd been thinking, lately. How she didn't feel right on her own body, like part of her was fighting so hard to tell her that something was wrong, and the whole world was showing in black and white. She had never asked to feel like her own body was turning against her, filled to the brim with implants that did god knows what. She had never asked to be brought back, even if she hasn't made her peace with dying.

You weren't supposed to make your peace with dying. It was just supposed to happen and then you'd be over with it.

But no, no they'd had to bring her back with a motive in mind, but had they ever considered that Shepard was alright with being dead? That she'd do it all again or even-

Right now, though she was almost glad just to be here, happy to simply be alive. It's like a flash of color in her black and white.

"You doing okay there, Shepard?" Joked asks suddenly, out of nowhere and she is acutely aware of every eye on the room on her, so she just pretends that she doesn't see and nods, tells him that she was just thinking, and they all turn back to eating and their trivial conversations.

One by one everyone filters out, wishing the remainder of the occupants of the small office a good night. Shepard isn't sure why she stays until it's just her and Miranda. They both sit in silence together for what could be hours, but for some reason she just can't make herself leave.

Finally she inhaled deeply and met Miranda's surprisingly soft gaze. "When we first met," she says slowly, carefully. Why is she telling her this? "You asked about Kaiden Alenko, why I left him on Virmire."

The other woman opts to not say anything for a moment, and let her eyes flit to her desk below an then back to to Shepard. "Yes, as I recall you shut that question down pretty quickly." It's a dry answer, but not as unkind or cold as the tone she usually takes when they have a conversation.

That was true, she hadn't been the most friendly about it. Or about anything, after being woken up the way she had been. Stars, just two years of being gone, and no one seemed surprised about her being alive...another thing that brought her pause.

"It's because I loved him," She said. "But I couldn't look at it like that, not with what was happening. It had to be Lieutenant Alenko and Chief Williams, not Ashley and Kaiden.

"I...I keep telling myself I did what I had to, but sometimes I wish I'd chosen differently. You deserved to know that."

And she needed to get it off her chest, even more than that. Even before Kaiden had died her problems had started, but at least he'd been there to hold her up, until Virmire.

Miranda let the beginnings of a sad smile show in her face, and surprisingly enough, reached out to grab Shepherd's hand and squeeze it lightly. "Thank you, for trusting me enough to tell me. We got off on the wrong foot, I think but I really would like to get to know you better. You the person, not you the soldier."

"I think I'd like that, when we get time, " she says, drawing her hand away even though she isn't sure that she wants to. Shepard stands quickly. "I'm going to bed now, thanks for...talking I guess. G'night, Miranda."

"Goodnight, Shepard. "

There's plenty for them to bicker about, still but at least it's a small step in the right direction. Maybe she's right, maybe they just got off on the wrong foot, or maybe she's so deep into seeing Miranda as Cerberus she can't see Just Miranda. Is there even a difference?

Again, Shepard thinks about how she's just happy to be here, happy to be alive, for the first time in a very long time.


End file.
